Lost
by CrayonTheBrave
Summary: Mike’s life is finally everything he wants it to be, but everything changes one night after a mistake with some paper work. A lost temper, lost memories, and a strong desire to remember leads Mike right back into the last place he wanted to be: trouble.
1. Mistaken

Mike walked toward his office. He found himself lost in thought as he acknowledged that everything was different now. He was an actual lawyer, with Harvey's old office, and he was _legally_ working at Pearson Specter Litt. He couldn't help but smile, his dreams had become a reality.

He straightened his tie and thought back to how all of this had come to be, just as Harvey called him into his office.

"Hey Mike, I need you to get these briefs to Louis, and shred these for me," Harvey stated, barely looking up from his desk.

Mike sighed, so much for everything being different.

"You're aware that I'm no longer your associate, and that there are plenty of associates and paralegals running around that could do that for you, right? Or, even better, you _could_ do it yourself."

Harvey grinned and leaned back in his chair.

"But I'm managing partner, and it's so much more fun to make you do it."

"I think someone is letting their power go to their head," Mike joked, as he picked up the briefs and scanned through them.

"Who, me? Never. I only use my power for good."

Mike rolled his eyes. No he didn't.

On his way out of Harvey's office he thought of all the work he had to do for his own cases, and wished he hadn't wasted time bantering with Harvey. He flipped through the stack Harvey had said to shred again, noticing the words Miller vs. Gonzalez. Wasn't that the case Harvey and Louis were working on?

Mike backtracked to Harvey's office only to find he'd gone to a meeting. He shrugged it off, Mike had a photographic memory and Harvey didn't get to be managing partner by making mistakes. He shredded the documents, put the other briefs in Louis' office, and was happy to finally be done with the errand that took far longer than it should have.

That is, until 6 o'clock, when Louis came barging into his office.

"Mike!" Louis all but shouted.

Mike's head shot up to look at Louis. The tone of his voice pierced through Mike's gut, leaving him with more than just a feeling that something was wrong.

"Yeah, Louis?" Mike began carefully, "what can I do for you?"

Mike took off his glasses in anticipation as Louis' expression changed dramatically.

"Do you want to tell me why the _hell_ I walked into a meeting with miscellaneous papers from some case Harvey settled three weeks ago?!"

Mike's heart sunk as he realized what had happened. Harvey had screwed up, and consequentially, that meant he had screwed up too. Part of him wondered why Louis hadn't reviewed the file before walking into the meeting.

"Louis," Mike started, but he was cut off.

"I don't know if you think this is some sort of game or something, but this isn't middle school. Pranks cost actual money, not to mention clients, and daddy can't get you out of all your messes. Give me the damn papers and don't you ever mess with me like that again or I don't care _what_ Harvey says, I will make your life a living hell."

"Louis, it wasn't a prank! Do you think I'm some sort of idiot? Harvey gave me two files, one to give to you and one to shred. He must have mixed up the order because-"

"Wait a second," Louis fumed, "are you telling me you shredded them?"

Mike remained silent. Why couldn't Louis listen long enough to see that this was all a misunderstanding?

"Answer me, dammit!"

"It was a mistake, it's not a big deal Louis, I'll just go reprint them for you."

"Not a big deal?!" Louis yelled, "It doesn't matter if you can just 'reprint them for me'. You made me look like a fool in front of my clients, and for what? Huh? Did you think it would be funny to make me look stupid? Did mommy and daddy not teach you how to be a decent human being before they died? Because from where I'm standing they're lucky enough not to see what a piece of crap you've become!"

Mike's anger flared. The shock of what Louis had just said knocked the wind out of him, and subsequently, anything he could have said in response was momentarily lost.

"Next time, I'll get them from Harvey myself."

And with that, Louis exited the room.

Mike recovered slowly, as the anger flooded through him like a river threatening to overflow. Just as he decided to go and confront Louis, Harvey walked in the room.

"What the hell, Mike?" Harvey accused angrily.

Harvey's timing couldn't have been worse.

"Screw you, Harvey," Mike said hotly, ignoring the look of disbelief on Harvey's face, "I don't know who you think you are, blaming me for your damn mistakes, but I have work to do, so you can get the hell out of my office. Next time you want to throw someone under the bus, why don't you go to an actual associate, because I'm done helping you only to end up regretting it."

"Just who the _hell_ do you think you're talking to?" Harvey demanded.

"No, Harvey, who the hell do you think _you're_ talking to? You think now that you're managing partner you're any different than you were? You're still just a selfish rule bending dick who's never made any sacrifices for anyone that didn't benefit himself! Get. Out!"

"Mike." Harvey said coldly.

Mike slammed his hands down on his desk.

"GET! OUT!"

Harvey stared at Mike with a glare that would have instilled fear in the heart of Jessica Pearson herself.

Mike felt his adrenaline rush fade slowly, until all he was left with was a staring contest and an angry Harvey. He broke eye contact first and disintegrated slowly into his chair.

"Harvey," he attempted.

"Mike. Go home."

Mike was going to protest, but noticed the increasing number of people staring at them through the glass that encompassed his office. They'd all heard him, or at the very least they'd heard that last part.

Part of Mike was still pissed, but for the moment he was ashamed for letting his temper get the best of him. He grabbed his messenger bag and swung it over his shoulder, brushing past Harvey.

"I'll see you tomorrow. If you still have a job," Harvey commented so only Mike could hear.

Mike made his way over to the elevator as his anger threatened to overtake him yet again. He made his way down and hopped on his bike, only he had no intention of going home. His next stop was a bar.


	2. Too Far

Mike awoke the next day in a queen sized bed. A quick glance around the room told him he was in a hotel.

He sat upright, confused by his surroundings. How did he get here? Staring around the room, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes, it occurred to him that he might not have come here alone.

"Rachel," he mumbled to himself as he jumped out of bed. He immediately regretted the sudden movement, as a jolt of pain shot through his head.

"Ow!"

He reached back to touch the back of his head only to find both dried and fresh blood. What exactly happened last night? He scanned the room and saw no sign that anyone else was there. The fact that his suit and his shoes were still on helped to silence the looming fear that he'd been in the company of another woman.

Mike took his phone out to check the time, only to find that it was dead. Of course it was dead, it was just his luck. The fight between him and Harvey came back to him suddenly, and he groaned at the memory. He glanced at the alarm clock beside his bed. 11:00 am. He was so late, and so so dead.

There was no time to get his head checked, he had to go now. He raced down the stairs to the lobby, and then out the front doors, only to find that he had no idea where he was. He walked back inside slowly, his head pounding painfully from all the running.

"Excuse me, sir?" He asked the person at the front desk, "do you know what part of New York I'm in?"

The man laughed.

"You're joking, right?" The man asked, as he debated whether or not the young, disheveled man in front of him was serious.

Mike's face went pale.

"No, I'm not," Mike replied anxiously.

Something was off, the news was blaring on the TV behind the man he was speaking to. It said it was Tuesday. Mike ran his fingers through his hair. How was today Tuesday if yesterday had been Tuesday? And where was his bike?

"Sir, you're not in New York," the man began slowly "you're in Springfield, Illinois."

Mike almost had a heart attack right then and there. He was in a different state, and he had no recollection of the last seven days. Logically, he knew this was probably due to the head wound, but he vowed silently to never go out drinking alone again.

"Illinois," he repeated defeatedly.

He found a nearby sofa and sat down. He was a dead man. Rachel had to be worried out of her mind, and he would be lucky if Harvey ever spoke to him again. He rubbed his face as he realized none of that mattered, because after Rachel and Harvey both finished chewing him out, Donna was going to murder him.

It was then that he realized the man behind the desk was still speaking to him.

"Hey, mister? Do you need me to call someone for you?"

Mike figured that was probably a good idea, so he nodded his head, which caused him to cry out in pain.

"Did I come in with anybody?" Mike asked.

"There's no telling, I just started my shift, but the computer says you've only been checked in since last night."

"Great."

Mike called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Although he refused to admit it, even to himself, he did this less for his own well being and more so for the sole fact that he knew Harvey and Rachel were his emergency contacts. This way, he wouldn't have to call them, the hospital would take care of that. He knew this was just prolonging the inevitable, but his head hurt bad enough as it was _without_ people yelling at him.

Once at the hospital, he was able to borrow a charger from a kindhearted nurse. His heart plummeted as he turned his phone on.

 **102 missed calls.**

 **47 voicemails.**

 **207 text messages.**

Mike could only imagine how many times they'd actually called, but his phone would have stopped recording that as soon as it died. He rubbed his temples, the hospital had to have called by now, it was time to suck it up and do the same.

He called Rachel first, but it went straight to voicemail. Her phone must have died. Mike had a tough choice to make. Harvey or Donna? He decided Donna was the scarier of the two options, and called Harvey. He picked up on the first ring.

"Mike, what the ACTUAL hell?!"

Mike took a deep breath.

"Well hi to you, too," he offered in an attempt to downplay the fact that he was in the hospital, and had been missing for seven days. It was a difficult thing to downplay.

"Don't be cute with me. Do you have any idea what you've put Rachel through?! Do you know how worried Donna's been?? I swear, Mike, if you don't have a good explanation for this," Harvey threatened.

"Harvey," Mike said softly, "I am so sorry."

"Yeah, well sorry doesn't cut it. We're on our way to you now. I don't understand how you could disappear for two weeks without telling anybody, no matter how bad of a day you've had, you don't do that, Mike."

"TWO _weeks_?!" Mike practically choked on the words.

Harvey sighed on the other end of the line.

"Mike, just what exactly did you get yourself into?"


	3. Remembering

The next hour on the phone was a mixture of Rachel crying, Harvey trying not to yell (and barely succeeding), and Donna refusing to speak to him. All three of them had piled into a car together as soon as they had gotten the phone call from the hospital, and were currently waiting at the airport to board their flight.

Mike was only rescued from what had to be the most emotional phone call he'd ever endured, when the same kindhearted nurse that had lent him a charger came in to give him stitches.

"You should probably hang up the phone now, it'll make it easier for the both of us," the nurse told him sympathetically.

Mike figured that she was right, and told the others he had to go.

"You better still be there when we get off the plane," Harvey stated.

"I love you," Rachel told him.

Radio silence from Donna. Mike sighed, and responded with "I will, you have my word, and I love you too," before hanging up the phone.

They seemed to be doing a 'good cop bad cop' thing, whether they realized it or not, and he knew at some point it was all going to come crashing down.

He shuddered at the thought of all three of them yelling at him, but supposed he deserved it. Or at least, he assumed he did. The chunk of memory missing from his brain sure wasn't helping things. Mike had thought Harvey was going to smash his phone when he told him he didn't know where he'd been the last two weeks.

Mike put his head in hands, trying to remember something. Anything.

"Rough day, huh?" The nurse asked.

"You could say that."

"It says in your chart that you're having a memory issue? That's common with head wounds, although it might help you to know that it's only about two days old."

Along with the head wound, Mike had more than a few bruises all over his body.

"Only?" Mike said sadly. That meant he hadn't been roaming around America with a head wound this whole time. As scary as that would have been, all of the other scenarios he'd concocted in his mind were much worse.

"I've never heard someone seem so sad about that before," the nurse laughed light heartedly, "my name is Anna by the way."

"Well, thanks Anna. It's just, the people I love most in this world are on there way here, I've been missing for two weeks, I'm in a completely _random_ state, and if I have to say "I don't know" to any of them one more time, I'm afraid I might have more than just a head injury by the end of the day."

Anna considered this for a moment.

"That's a hard situation, I hope you figure out what happened to you," she offered.

Mike sighed, he hoped so too. He winced as Anna pulled out a needle to numb the area around the wound. He found himself wishing that he were anywhere else. Well, anywhere else _except_ with Harvey and the others. He wasn't looking forward to an in-person confrontation.

Luckily for Mike, he only needed seven stitches, which was nothing compared to the amount the guy on the bed next to him needed. The poor man had been bitten by an angry dog all over his arms and legs.

Only ten minutes after Anna had finished stitching him up, he was informed that he was being discharged.

"With a head wound?" He protested. Mike was certain they had something else to do, head injuries were pretty serious, weren't they? The doctor that had just walked in seemed to be having a bad day. He looked up at Mike, surprised that he had objected to being able to go home.

"There appears to be no damage to your brain, and you have a minor concussion. Just take it easy and you should be fine. Your memory should return to you in time. Although, memory loss could also be a symptom of heavy drinking," the doctor informed him somewhat judgmentally.

Mike was in disbelief. He walked out of the building just as easily as he had walked in. Mike noticed that the hospital suddenly seemed busy, and figured that they probably ushered him out to make more room. In a way he was glad to be discharged, he'd never liked hospitals. It reminded him of what had happened to his parents.

He texted Harvey that he'd been discharged, even though he knew that their flight had to of taken off by now, which meant he wouldn't get the message until he landed.

Unfortunately, that meant Mike had a couple of hours on his hands and nowhere to go. He sat on a bench he found outside the hospital, and debated what to do next. He'd given Harvey his word that he'd stay put, so that's what he intended to do. He also knew that meant he was going to be alone with his thoughts for a while.

Thinking about all that had happened, as well as the association between hospitals and his parents, Mike once again became angry about the exchange that had occurred the other night. This was all Louis' fault. He'd said some pretty terrible things before, but this time he had stooped to a whole new level.

Mike thought about it some more, and realized that in reality, it was Harvey's fault. For a guy who preached loyalty, he sure didn't seem to have his back. Mike supposed that wasn't fair. He hadn't even tried to explain to Harvey what had happened, he'd just lashed out. He winced as he remembered that he'd called Harvey selfish.

That's when he noticed a familiar looking car pull up beside him.

"Hey Mike," the young man in the car said smoothly, "remember me? You sure are a hard guy to find. I'm sure your friends feel the same way."

But for the first time, Mike didn't remember. He sat there dumbfounded for a minute or two as he glanced at the New York license plate and then back towards the man in the car. That's when it all came rushing back to him. The man in the car seemed to notice the flash of recognition in his eyes.

"Just wanted to make sure we still had an understanding," the man smirked.

Mike's mouth went dry as he nodded slowly.

"Good," he said while grinning maniacally, and with that, he sped off much faster than was necessary.

"Oh my god," Mike mumbled to himself.

Why hadn't he listened to Harvey and just gone home?


	4. Going Backwards

_The bar was crowded that night, crowded enough that the bartender didn't seem to notice that Mike should have been cut off hours earlier. Crowded enough, that when his phone rang for the seventh time, Mike didn't hear it._

 _"Another," Mike slurred._

 _Not that anyone could actually hear him. He hadn't gotten service in over an hour, and he could feel the numbness of the alcohol beginning to wear off. Well, at least he thought he could. In reality, he was no where near close to sober._

 _"You look awful, bad day?" A man asked as he sat down beside him._

 _It took Mike longer than usual to comprehend what he'd just said._

 _"Two words," Mike spoke slowly, "Harvey. Specter."_

 _The man grimaced at the name, Mike assumed he must have had a run in with Harvey too. He looked him over. Yeah, the guy definitely could have been a lawyer. He was only a little older than Mike, and he was wearing a nice suit._

 _"I feel you there. That guy sure gets around, doesn't he? Someone ought to put him in his place," the man suggested casually._

 _"Maybe," Mike began, "but if you're putting Harvey in his place, you might as well put Louis in his, too."_

 _Mike finally got the attention of the bartender and was able to order another drink. The bartender did a double take after he set the drink down._

 _"Mike, was it?" The bartender asked, "yeah, sorry buddy, after this one you're cut off. I'll call you a cab if you need me to."_

 _The bartender was then called away, and Mike was left to talk with the man sitting beside him, the man whose name he still had yet to ask._

 _"Did you say you knew Louis too? Louis Litt?" The man asked him._

 _"Don't even get me started on him. Sometimes I wish I didn't have an eidetic memory, so I didn't have to remember all the crap that comes out of his mouth,_ _" Mike said louder than he had meant to._

 _The man chuckled._

 _"I know what you mean."_

 _This small piece of validation only encouraged Mike, and he began to tell the man everything and anything that had happened that week at Pearson Specter Litt, only briefly mentioning the case Harvey and Louis had been working on._

 _If Mike had been paying attention, or if he hadn't been so drunk, he might have noticed that the man's demeanor had changed. He might have noticed that the man had straightened up as Mike started to talk about what working at Pearson Specter Litt was like, or that he'd looked disgusted when Mike expressed that he actually enjoyed working there. In fact, if he had been looking at the man at all, he might have noticed a number of reactions that would have given him some clue that he needed to stop talking. But the thing that would have been most helpful for Mike to notice, was the fact that the man he had so openly trusted, had reached over discreetly and drugged Mike's drink. The drink that he had just finished the last of._

 _"Anyway," Mike began to trail off, "I, I don't think I ever caught your name?"_

 _The man smiled, but something about the way he smiled was unnerving to him. Mike began to notice that he felt disoriented, and very tired._

 _"Matthew," the man stated smoothly, "Matthew Gonzalez."_

 _Mike immediately recalled the briefs he had accidentally shredded. Miller vs. Gonzalez. Matthew Gonzalez was on the other side, the wrong side._

 _That's when he finally realized something was off, but it was too little too late. Mike got up to leave, mumbling some excuse about his fiancée being worried, but his legs refused to work, and he fell to the ground._

 _"I've got him," Matthew told the bartender who looked rather alarmed, "don't worry, I'll take care of him."_

 _Mike felt himself being lifted up and carried out. It was the last thing he remembered before everything went silent._

 _It was roughly three days later when Mike found himself in a place between sleep and reality. He could hear what was going on around him, but he couldn't quite bring himself to open up his eyes._

 _"Just exactly how much did you put in his drink," a gruff voice asked, "he's of no use to us if he's dead, and I'm not going down for murder on top of everything else."_

 _"I didn't expect him to drink the whole thing at once, but I don't blame him either, working at a place like that," a familiar voice said._

 _Matthew. Matthew Gonzalez. Mike's brain registered the voice, but still couldn't bring itself to wake up properly._

 _"Whatever, Gonzalez. If he dies, it's on you," the gruff man retorted._

 _Mike heard a door slam, and did his best to open his eyes. He'd never felt so groggy in his life, and the stabbing headache he'd woken up with wasn't helping either. He managed to sit up, and finally, finally, was awake enough to take in his surroundings. He found himself handcuffed to a metal shelving unit attached to the wall. The handcuffs made a small clanking sound whenever he moved, not that he could move very much at all._

 _"Thank God," Matthew muttered to himself._

 _Mike couldn't bring himself to speak yet, but was grateful to find a water bottle beside him. He appeared to be in a small apartment, but there was next to no furniture, aside from a lonely folding chair in the far back corner._

 _"Aren't you wondering where you are, why you're here?" Matthew asked impatiently._

 _No, Mike hadn't been wondering any of that. He'd barely woken up, and his head was killing him. He hadn't had the time to form questions about why he was being held captive._

 _"Well, I'll tell you why," Matthew began._

 _Mike rolled his eyes with what little strength he had. Seriously? A wise person didn't reveal the cards they were holding, that defeated the purpose of the game. He figured someone like Matthew would know that, being a business man and all. But then it dawned on him, Mike_ was _the card that Matthew was holding, and this didn't really feel like a game._

 _"Harvey's going to be so pissed when he finds out you're holding me...what? Hostage? Did you really think kidnapping me would be a smart idea?"_

 _"Harvey's not going to find out. You see, Mike, after I'm done with you, I'm going to know everything about Harvey and Louis' plans for my case. On top of that, I'm going to know all of their possible weaknesses, just in case Plan A fails. Once we're through, if you even so much as utter a word of this to Harvey, we'll inform him that you willingly helped us from the start."_

 _Mike scoffed. There was no way in hell he was going to tell Matthew any of those things, and there was no way Harvey wasn't going to know about everything that transpired between him and this shady Gonzalez dude._

 _"Who do you think he's gonna believe? He's known me for seven years, you have no proof, and Harvey knows I wouldn't do that to him."_

 _Matthew smiled and pulled out a tape recorder, hitting the play button. Mike recognized his voice instantly._

"You were right earlier, someone does need to put Harvey in his place, he's got, like, zero respect. A whole zero. Why not mess with him a bit? Care to help me out?"

"That sounds good," came Matthew's reply, "I have just the idea."

 _Mike stared at the tape recorder with a strange combination of disbelief and infuriation._

 _"That was taken out of context! Anyone can tell from the audio that I was intoxicated. No Judge is going to believe you over me."_

 _"Maybe not, but that wasn't really the point," Matthew said, "are you really willing to take the chance that Harvey might believe it? And even if he doesn't, he won't ever trust you again. I mean, you said some pretty hurtful things about him that I just_ happened _to record. It looks like you have no choice but to help me now."_

 _"Over my dead body," Mike challenged._

 _There was no way Matthew was blackmailing him into helping him. Mike didn't intend on throwing everything he'd worked so hard for away. On top of that, Mike didn't know a whole lot about the case, aside from bits and pieces he'd heard or read here and there. It occurred to him that if Harvey heard those tapes there's no telling what could happen. He just had to hold out long enough to figure out a plan._

 _"If you wish," Matthew replied._

 _Matthew left the room, and when the door opened again a well built, intimidating man entered. Mike gulped, he knew from what he'd overheard that they didn't intend to kill him, but he also knew that wouldn't stop them from beating the information out of him. Mike was never going to a bar again. Curse his blabbering mouth and uncanny memory._

 _In the next seven days, Mike revealed as little to Matthew Gonzalez, and his body guard, Steve, as he could manage, and not without putting up somewhat of a fight. The information he gave them was as outdated as he could make it, with it still being relevant to their case. He got away with it the first three times, but the fourth time they'd seemed to have caught on. He'd only had the pleasure of being acquainted with Steve six times, and never for more than two hours. The rest of the time he was ignored, locked up in the sorry excuse for an apartment for hours. Alone._

 _Mike heard Matthew talking outside the apartment a couple days earlier about Harvey seeming distracted. He had laughed that taking Mike might have proven useful after all. Mike did his best to hold back his tears, and instead fueled them into anger. He wasn't going to cry here._

 _On the twelfth day he'd been missing, Matthew came in to give him what he deemed good news._

 _"You're free to go, Mike," he said sincerely, opening the door wide._

 _Mike looked at Matthew dumbfounded, and then to his handcuffs, which prevented him from walking out the door._

 _"They threw the case out, thanks to you. Your information may have been crap half of the time, but your absense was just the distraction we needed," he smirked victoriously._

 _Mike swore softly. He was furious, which was often an emotion he felt when he was completely and utterly helpless. He remembered the time Jessica had threatened him, and he made the choice to betray Harvey. He feared he'd done that yet again, even if the circumstances were slightly different. Clenching his fists, he vowed he'd never put himself in this situation again._

 _"Oh, right. Your handcuffs. Let me help you. Also, before you get any ideas, in case the tape recorder wasn't enough to keep you quiet, I have a different insurance policy. I recall you mentioning a fiancée? Sure would be a shame if something happened to her," Matthew said suggestively, while unlocking Mike's handcuffs._

 _Mike rubbed his wrists for a good minute before rearing back and punching Matthew Gonzalez straight in the face. To say Matthew reacted poorly would have been an understatement, and soon enough Mike's head collided with the back of the shelving unit he had been attached to for so long. Mike would later deem that it was worth it._

 _He woke up in a hotel two days later, with no recollection of any of this._


	5. Answers

Mike remembered everything so suddenly, that he found himself once again without words. The trauma of all that had happened slapped him in the face with a force that made his whole body shake, and it took him a while to recover.

Once he did, he realized there was still a day missing from his memory. A day he assumed he had spent unconscious. But that wasn't the main thing bothering him. If he had been in New York, how did he get all the way to Illinois?

He decided the only way to find answers was to go looking for them. The hotel he'd wound up in was his only lead.

Mike looked around for a cab, but realized once again that he wasn't in New York anymore. There weren't cabs waiting around to take people places. He took out his phone to see if he could call a cab service nearby or whatever the equivalent was, only to find that his phone was almost dead again. He decided to use what little battery he had to GPS the hotel. He memorized the map and started walking.

The hotel was farther away on foot than Mike had thought, and he was understandably exhausted from the events of the last two weeks. Mike checked his phone again. 1%, and Harvey still hadn't texted him back. Mike used the last percent to send him a message. BRB, it read. He hit send, and then his phone screen went black.

By the time he reached the hotel, he'd been walking for two hours, having taken a wrong turn and backtracking sometime around the hour mark. The sun was threatening to leave, and Mike was at the brink of exhaustion. In the time it had taken Mike to walk to the hotel, he had begun to put some of the pieces together. Matthew Gonzalez hadn't trusted that Mike would keep his mouth shut, so he did everything he could to discredit his story in case Mike decided to come forward. That was the reason he was in Illinois, and that was the reason he still had his phone. He knew for a fact he hadn't had it when he was being held in that crappy apartment. Matthew Gonzalez seemed to be making things up as he went, which is probably why he had gotten sued in the first place.

Mike had also realized that if Matthew hadn't threatened Rachel's life, there would have been nothing stopping him from telling Harvey, Rachel, and Donna everything. The things he'd said about Harvey were embarrassing, but he'd been drunk and Harvey could forgive that. Probably. Although he wasn't sure Harvey would forgive him for feeding Matthew Gonzalez information, even if it was unwillingly. Mike was certain this was all his fault. How could he have been so careless?

Regardless, Mike was on a mission and needed to prove if his theory was right. Mike had no ties in Illinois, so Matthew had to have put him here. If that was the case, there had to be witnesses.

Mike walked into the hotel with a purpose, and found the same guy at the front desk from earlier.

"Hi again," Mike said, "do you guys have security cameras?"

The man from earlier seemed surprised to see Mike again. Mike looked at his name tag and saw that it read 'Kevin'.

"We do," Kevin replied, "but I'm afraid we aren't really allowed to show them to you. Privacy reasons and all that."

Mike understood, but he was nonetheless disappointed.

"Do you have a manager I could speak to?" he asked, "I really need to figure out if I came in with anyone the other night."

"No," Kevin responded. But then his face lit up. "But Lisa's shift starts in fifteen minutes, and she should have been here around the time you came in. If you can stick around she might have some information for you."

Mike was relieved, and found a seat on a nearby sofa for the second time that day. He realized he liked Kevin. Not only was he helpful, but he didn't ask a whole lot of questions either.

A girl walked in rather hurriedly twenty minutes later, and immediately walked behind the front desk.

"Lisa?" Mike inquired.

Lisa's head jerked up suddenly and she looked kind of nervous.

"Yes?" She asked.

Mike explained his situation as vaguely as possible, and waited for her response. It didn't take her long to remember him.

"Oh yeah!" She said a little too excitedly, "you came in with a guy your age and some older dude. He mentioned something about a wild night gone wrong? You were knocked out cold. Anyway, they paid for your room and left."

"Can you tell me who paid for it?"

Lisa seemed to debate something for a minute or two before responding.

"Well, seeing as you came in with them, I don't see why not. It was the older gentleman. I don't recall his name, but I think the younger guy called him Dad once or twice."

"The younger guy...he was my height? Slicked back jet black hair, big brown eyes? Obnoxious red tie? Expensive suit?"

Lisa nodded slowly in response, and Mike started to connect the dots. It suddenly dawned on him that the Matthew Gonzalez from Harvey's case was Matthew Gonzalez Senior. He had a son. Mike deemed this visit a success, he'd gotten the information he needed. Now he just had to figure out what to do with it.

Mike walked outside only to find that the sun had gone down. He had to walk back to the hospital in the dark. Harvey's plane had to of landed by now. Judging by how dark it was, he assumed his plane had landed a while ago.

As he began the walk back, a car pulled up beside him, matching his pace. Mike's heart was going a million miles a minute. Matthew Gonzalez was back, and he was going to murder him. Mike debated running, and just as he decided to do exactly that, the window rolled down.

"Seriously, Mike?? You had one job to do, stay put. _BRB?!_ What are we, in high school? Get in the damn car."

Mike had never been more happy to see Harvey in his life.


	6. Decisions

Mike entered the car, and immediately the atmosphere erupted into one of emotion. Rachel and Donna both fussed over how awful he looked, and how badly he smelled, and of course, how much they'd missed him. Donna reached back from the front seat to give him a hug, forgetting for a moment that she was mad at him. Rachel was sat beside him and did the same. Laughter and tears poured out of both of them, and Mike even shed a few tears himself. God, it felt good to be back.

Even Harvey took a moment to express genuine concern before everything died down a bit, and then they were back on the road.

Mike realized then that he wasn't the only one that looked awful. Harvey had bags under his eyes, and Rachel and Donna looked like they hadn't stopped crying since he'd left. Mike's heart broke at the realization that they probably hadn't.

Soon the car was silent. Mike reached over to hold Rachel's hand, and to his relief she didn't pull away. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the tension from building. The silence grew louder as thousands of questions went unspoken, and therefore, unanswered. Harvey was the first to speak.

"Mike, what the hell happened?"

Mike was at a loss for words. He didn't know what to say. He'd been dreading this moment, even before he'd remembered everything. Mike knew he should tell them, but he couldn't bare the thought of losing Rachel. He couldn't bare the thought of having to tell Harvey that he was the reason he lost the case. Most of all, he couldn't bare having to tell them he was kidnapped and beaten, and that it all could've been avoided if he hadn't badmouthed Harvey. He wouldn't risk Rachel's life like that, and besides, he wouldn't have been ready to confess it all, anyway.

"I told you Harvey," Mike said steadily, "I don't know. Amnesia or something. Memory should come back soon enough. At least, that's what the doctor said."

Harvey pulled over suddenly, turned around in his seat, and looked directly at Mike.

"Bull _shit."_

Mike felt a lump rise in his throat.

"Harvey, when I told you earlier that I couldn't remember anything, I was telling the truth. It's the head wound," Mike explained.

"Maybe you were telling the truth earlier," Harvey replied, "but you sure as hell aren't telling the truth now."

It was then that Mike felt Rachel pull her hand away from his. The small gesture stung, and Mike found himself looking out the window to avoid eye contact. He didn't want anyone to see the tears building in his eyes.

"Mike," Rachel said, on the verge of tears herself, "please tell us what's going on. Whatever it is, we can help you. Unless...unless you-."

But Rachel didn't continue the sentence that everyone else feared to be true.

"Unless I ran away, and had no intention of being found," Mike finished, still looking out the window.

Everyone went quiet again. It seemed to be the theme of the night.

"Did you?" Donna asked, "have any intention of being found? Because, Mike, we didn't know what to think. People didn't know whether you'd ran away or what. Frankly, we were beginning to think the worst. Do you know what it was like to worry that you'd been murdered by some psychopath?"

Mike found himself unable to breathe. Of course he'd wanted to be found, it was all he had hoped for in the time he'd been held captive. He'd replayed every FBI style TV show he'd ever watched, praying someone would kick the door down and rescue him. At one point, when they'd neglected to give him water for a full day, he was certain that he was going to die. But they didn't know about any of that, nor could they, not if Mike wanted to keep Rachel safe.

Mike suddenly felt hot, and soon he was sweating. He took deep breaths, as breathing had become difficult, but it wasn't working. The deep breaths were both too much and too little air at the same time. He put his head in his hands and began to shake, as big wet tears slipped down his face. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that he must have been having a panic attack. It was all he could do to keep from passing out.

Donna and Harvey exchanged a look, and Rachel reached over to rub his back, trying to soothe the immense amount of pain he was so obviously in.

"Mike."

It was only one word, but the concern surrounding it was almost out of character for Harvey, who had never seen Mike this upset before. Mike couldn't bring himself to lift his head out of his hands.

"Mike, you need to tell us what's going on so we can help you. I don't know what the hell happened, or if anything happened at all, but I do know that you're scaring me. I also know that we can't fix anything at all if you don't tell us what _happened,_ " Harvey reasoned.

"Mike, we love you. Whatever it is, we'll get through it. Whether you ran away, or whatever happened, we'll figure something out," Donna offered.

"You better _not_ have ran away," Harvey grumbled.

Donna shot Harvey a look as Mike finally lifted his head up to look at Harvey. He debated telling them everything. He _wanted_ to tell them everything.

"Harvey, I'm sorry, I don't remember," he lied, "but I know I didn't run away. You just have to trust me."

Mike wasn't able to look Harvey in the eye as he said this, and he knew that his panic attack had given away that he knew more than he was letting on. Mike didn't know what else to do, the truth just wasn't an option.

"I did trust you," Harvey bit back.

Mike said nothing in response, but instead went back to looking out the window. Harvey's face became unreadable as he turned around in his seat and restarted the car.

The drive became uncomfortably silent. Mike wanted to talk to the others, but there was suddenly a barrier between them. A barrier he'd made when he'd chosen not to tell them what happened.

After only twenty minutes, Mike's eyes grew heavy. He'd been exhausted for far too long, and soon he found himself lost within his own dreams.


	7. The Truth

_Steve walked into the room, only this time he was twice as large as Mike remembered him. He couldn't keep doing this, he just wasn't able to take the punches anymore. Mike knew it could be much worse, but he was sick and tired of throwing up rice and bread, the only food they fed him._

 _"You don't need to do this," Mike said weakly._

 _"Believe me, I'd rather not make the commute every day," Steve grunted._

 _"How about you not do this and say you did?"_

 _"That's not an option. You have information I need, and I have a job to do."_

 _"You don't have to do this! We can work something out. Stop. Stop!"_

Mike woke up suddenly to water being poured on his head. Gasping for air, he looked up to see Harvey holding a small bucket. Donna and Rachel stood beside him. Glancing over at the clock, he saw it was 3 in the morning. What the hell?

"Sorry, Mike," Harvey said unapologetically, "had to wake you up somehow. As it is, you woke up half the hotel with all your yelling."

The glint in Harvey's eyes told Mike he wasn't sorry at all, although he couldn't really blame him. Mike rubbed his face, and then glanced around the room. He assumed they had stopped at a hotel because he had fallen asleep in the car. He was comforted by the fact that they still seemed to care.

From the looks of it, there were two beds in the room, and Rachel appeared to have been sleeping in the other one. His heart hurt deeply. The very person he was trying to protect couldn't even bare to sleep in the same bed as him anymore. He assumed Donna and Harvey had been sleeping in another room, but he couldn't figure out how they'd ended up in his. He looked at them questioningly.

"You'd been yelling out for a while. I couldn't get you to wake up, so I went to get help," Rachel offered.

Mike nodded slowly. That made sense.

Everyone looked at him expectantly, as though he were going to explain why he'd been yelling out for someone to stop. He sighed. Were they really going to have this conversation twice in one night? Harvey grew impatient quickly.

"Mike, if you don't tell us what happened to you, you're fired," he said evenly.

Donna gave Harvey a look.

"Harvey, you can't fire Mike. What exactly are you hoping to gain from threatening him?" Donna asked.

Harvey became irritated that Donna had questioned him, and in front of everyone at that.

"What am I trying to _gain_? How about a junior partner I can actually trust? How about a friend that doesn't insult me in front of my entire firm, run away, and then _lie_ to my _face_ about it?! Does that work for you, Donna?"

"Except I didn't run away, Harvey. I would never do that to you, to any of you," Mike interjected in an attempt to take the heat off of Donna.

"Yeah, and how would you know that if your memory is gone, Mike? I can deal with you having a bad day at work, but this crap? You running away because things got hard?! I sure as hell didn't sign up for that," Harvey snapped.

"I didn't run away, and I would know because my memory came back hours ago. So you don't need to take your anger out on Donna because you can't deal with your own crap. Yeah, I haven't told you what happened, but honestly, why should I? You know, my word used to actually mean something to you. Now I can't get you to trust a word I say. You didn't have my back the night I went missing, and you don't have my back now!" Mike shouted back.

There was a pause. It was long enough for Mike to regret what he'd just said, but not long enough for him to attempt to take it back.

"What the hell did you just say to me?" Harvey asked.

Mike held Harvey's gaze and said nothing, as Harvey's words dared him to repeat himself. Donna and Rachel seemed to be holding their breath.

"How dare you. You think I don't have your back?" Harvey fumed, "no, Mike, I spent every night you were gone wondering where my _friend_ was. I couldn't focus, I couldn't sleep, and you better believe I wasn't the only one. When everyone else said you'd broken under the pressure and ran off, I immediately shut them up. Then, when you finally show up, you refuse to tell me what the hell happened to you! So how exactly am I supposed to trust you? Because, from where I'm standing, all you've done is lie to us since the moment we were reunited. Can you really sit there and blame me for assuming the worst?"

Harvey was right, and Mike wished for what felt like the millionth time that something, anything, about this situation was easy.

"No," Mike said softly, "because you didn't assume the worst."

Mike had lived through the worst, him having ran away would have been preferable to all he'd been through. In that moment, Mike cracked. There was no use in holding out anymore. He was no longer worried about all of them hating him, as it looked as though things were heading in that direction, anyway. As for Rachel, Mike was hopeful that Harvey would find away to help him protect her, even if he wanted nothing to do with Mike after everything was said and done. Even if none of them wanted anything to do with him. The truth was now his best option, his only option. He took a deep breath, and told them everything.


	8. Apologies

Mike stumbled through the hardest story he'd ever had to tell in his life. Tears filled his eyes as he told it, scared to look up to see the reactions of those he loved.

When he finally finished, he had gradually worked up the courage to look at them. Carefully, he lifted his head. Rachel was in tears, and she hugged Mike for a long time, mumbling comforting things in his ear. Donna was teary eyed too, and joined in the hug. There was quiet for a little while. Mike hadn't expected that they would react this way, and was waiting for the other ball to drop.

Both girls pulled away after some time had passed, and Donna went into the bathroom to find tissues for her and Rachel. Mike looked over at Harvey. He was stiff, and extremely angry. This was the reaction Mike had expected, and he braced himself for the harsh words and the speech on betrayal that never came.

"Harvey?" Mike asked tentatively.

Harvey was still processing, and chose his words carefully.

"Matthew Gonzalez is going straight to Hell, and I'm the one that's going to send him there," Harvey said coldly.

Mike felt all the anxiety that had built up rush out of his body, like a balloon that had been let go while someone was still in the process of blowing it up. He had never felt relief like this before.

"Harvey, I'm so sorry that I said all of those things to you, and then about you. I was so angry after Louis said my parents were lucky not to see what a piece of crap I'd become, and I took it out on you, and then I screwed everything up. I got drunk, then kidnapped, and you lost your case because of me. I said some really awful things, and on top of all of that, now Rachel is in danger, I'm so, so sorry. I-."

But Mike's words got stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say anything else unless he wanted to dissolve into a pile of guilt and sadness. A mental breakdown wouldn't help anyone right now.

"Wait, Louis said _what?!_ " Harvey asked incredulously.

"Mike, it's not your fault you got kidnapped. You shouldn't have said all those things about Harvey, but it's decidedly normal to badmouth your boss from time to time. Especially if your boss is Harvey Specter. You had no way of knowing some psycho was going to take matters into his own hands. Don't blame yourself entirely for this mess, because you're not really the one that caused it," Donna advised, giving Mike a small smile.

"What exactly are you trying to say, Donna? It's almost like you think I'm difficult to work with or something," Harvey joked, "but Mike, Gonzalez is the one that tore everything to crap, and he's the one who's going to pay for it."

"Also," Rachel began, "I appreciate you trying to protect me, but I'm a big girl. I pray to God there isn't a next time, but in the future you need to tell us what's going on. Even if someone threatens you. Especially if someone threatens you."

Mike nodded, still not trusting himself to speak. He hadn't imagined things going this well, and counted himself lucky that it had.

No one could fall back asleep after everything had been said that needed to be said, so instead they turned the TV on to pass the time. Their flight was at 8 am, and soon they found themselves at the airport, waiting to board their plane.

The plane ride was compiled of everyone filling Mike in on all that had happened while he was away. He enjoyed hearing about the various cases, but they seemed to be skipping over the sad parts, or anything that had to do with him being missing at all.

They didn't tell him that Harvey had refused to promote or hire another junior partner, and that when anyone mentioned it at all he immediately shut down, or that most nights, they worked as late as possible to avoid the loneliness of their own unchecked thoughts. They didn't touch on the fact that their work had suffered in his absence, despite the late nights, or that jokes had become rare and unappreciated in the time he was away. Later on, he would come to know all of these things and more, but for now, nothing was said.

After they got off the plane, Mike went into the bathroom immediately. He hated to use the ones on the plane, and avoided doing so if he could manage. When he came back out, something about the others seemed off. This was especially true of Rachel, who was fidgeting an awful lot. He was going to ask what was wrong, but Harvey rushed them out to the car. Mike brushed off the feeling that something was amiss, even though the car ride quickly turned silent and awkward. He figured there must have been an argument in the small time he was away, and decided that he'd just ask Rachel about it later. He was happy to be returning to normal, to be returning home.

At some point in the car ride, he'd lost focus of the road and started to daydream. When he came back to reality, he realized they were going the wrong way.

"Harvey, you made a wrong turn," Mike said, confused as to why no one else had mentioned it.

"No, I didn't," Harvey stated.

"Yes, you did. You should have made a left instead of a right when we first turned onto-."

But Mike stopped mid sentence, as Harvey parked the car in front of a familiar building.

"No," Mike said forcefully, finally realizing what all the silence had been about, "I don't want to do this. We can handle this on our own like we always do."

Harvey just shook his head and got out of the car, leaving Donna and Rachel to do damage control.

"Sometimes even lawyers need a little help when it comes to the law. At least you're on the right side of it this time," Rachel persuaded.

"You didn't even give me a heads up! Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted something different? Did you stop to think about what happens if Gonzalez finds out? Did you guys even think this through?!"

"Yes," Donna said, "and this is exactly why we made the decision not to tell you. What Gonzalez did is bigger than a shady deal gone wrong, there's really nothing else for us to do _but_ this, Mike. It's our best shot at making him pay for what he did."

Mike felt trapped as he looked up at the New York Police Department. In hindsight, he should have known they'd end up here, but for some reason it hadn't crossed his mind.


	9. Watched

Mike had reluctantly agreed to enter the police department and file a report. The police asked him question after question, and Mike thought it might never end. He gave them all the information he could think of, whether he thought it was useful or not, and did his best not to walk right back out the door. Donna, Rachel, and Harvey waited for him to finish, giving him looks of encouragement whenever he happened to glance their way. After what felt like an eternity, the questions finally ceased. He was told that they were going to open an investigation into his kidnapping, and that they'd let him know more later on. Mike was exhausted, and as he hopped into the car, he was glad to actually be headed home this time. Harvey dropped Rachel and Mike off at their house, promising to call later on.

The first thing Mike did when he got home was take a long, long shower. He spent over an hour in the bathroom, but somehow, he still felt dirty. Dirty, and helpless, and a big part of him feared that those feelings would never go away.

Although everyone else objected, Mike insisted on going to work the next day. He just wanted things to go back to normal, so that maybe he could find a way to gain back the sense of security he'd lost.

"Are you sure about this?" Rachel asked for the third time that morning.

Mike adjusted his tie in the mirror, and turned around to smile at her. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her in close.

"I'm sure," he assured Rachel, leaning in to kiss her softly, "I'm going to be fine."

Rachel wasn't quite convinced, but she gave in anyway.

"Okay, but if you start feeling like it's too much, I'm sure Harvey will be fine with you going home early."

Mike nodded, he was sure too, considering how much everyone had opposed the idea in the first place. He was determined though, and it was way better than sitting at home doing nothing.

As Mike walked into the office, he encountered something he hadn't expected. People were _staring_ at him. Intensely, openly, and unapologetically staring at him. Some people stared with pity in their eyes, while others stared in disbelief, although most of the time it was a mixture of the two. It was like he was a ghost, and no one could quite believe they were really seeing him.

At one point, when he walked into the associates pool, many of the associates actually started clapping. Mike was perturbed, and did his best to silence their applause with a look of confusion and disapproval. _What on earth was going on?_ When Harvey called him into his office later that day, he walked in quickly, and he did so happily, glad to escape all the stares, even if only for a moment.

"You rang?" Mike asked, glancing towards the door to make sure no one was still staring at him. No one was within view, much to his relief.

"Yes, I 'rang'. I just wanted to see how you were doing is all," Harvey responded nonchalantly.

" _You_ , the great Harvey Specter, care about how _I_ , a lowly junior partner is doing?? Are you meaning to say, _you care?_ " Mike joked, feigning shock.

Harvey rolled his eyes and hid a smirk, although his amusement couldn't be hidden completely, as it shone clearly through his eyes.

"I see you've still got a sense of humor," Harvey noted, "but be careful what you say about me, it just might come back to haunt you."

"You're telling me," Mike said knowingly, "did you notice everyone staring at me? It's really creeping me out."

"Maybe they're in awe of how you survived the wrath of the great Harvey Specter," Harvey mused.

"Yeah, I'm sure _that's_ it," Mike countered sarcastically.

Mike and Harvey bantered back and forth like that for a little while longer, before Louis came into the room. Mike excused himself, but Louis stopped him in the doorway before he left.

"Mike, I'm sorry about the other night," he said in a low voice.

Mike nodded and left somewhat quickly, but not before he heard the very beginning of Harvey chewing Louis out. Mike bit back a smile. Harvey did have his back, and he made a note to apologize to him for saying otherwise later on.

Over the next two days Mike got used to all the staring, which he thought would have died down by now. It no longer bothered him, and instead whenever he caught someone staring at him, he would just stare right back until they got uncomfortable. He thought this was funny, unaware that others were starting to view him as intimidating. People still looked at him though, just more discretely. At the two week mark, they still hadn't stopped staring, which was mind boggling to Mike, as the semblance of normal he had wished for seemed to be fading. There had been no word from the police, so it wasn't like there was news fueling the stares, but still they continued.

All of this staring, however, would explain why Mike didn't notice the van that followed him to work everyday. Not even when it almost ran into him. He was used to being stared at, so much so that he didn't notice that the same person stood just outside his firm every day, always with a coffee mug in his hand, and always watching for Mike. No, being stared at was his new normal, he thought nothing of it, and he even began to welcome it. He thought this was a good thing, not noticing otherwise.


	10. Run

Mike walked into his office tentatively, noticing that things were not the way that he had left them. Sitting down at his desk he saw a new pro bono case that had been placed right in the center. He also noticed that all the other papers he'd been working on had been pushed to the edge of his desk in a pile, made to seem less important. Mike thought that was odd, considering that Harvey had told Mike that they were of the utmost importance. Of course, he seemed to say that about all of the cases he assigned Mike.

Maybe it was a special occasion, or maybe Harvey was trying to help Mike adjust to life in the office after all that had happened. Whatever it was, there was no mistake that the note lying on top of the case was in Harvey's handwriting.

"Something for your hard work, focus on your self for a day," Mike read aloud.

Mike laughed, the gesture was nice but the phrasing of the note made it sound like he'd just been given a baseball ticket or a bottle of wine. He flipped through the case, reading intently. An older man in his mid fifties was claiming to have fallen off a horse due to a saddle malfunction, and that he wasn't the only one to have done so either. Mike figured it was worth investigating, and got ready to leave.

"I've been looking for you," Harvey said as he walked passed him in the hallway, "I want that case solved by the end of this week. We have a lot riding on this."

Mike was surprised to see Harvey here so early, but decided to make fun of that later.

"Great choice of words. 'Riding on this.' Also I've been in my office this whole time," Mike laughed.

Harvey gave Mike a look. Mike took this to mean that Harvey had found no amusement in the joke he had unintentionally made. Mike also found himself wondering what all was riding on this.

He pushed the button in the elevator humming to himself softly. With all the therapy sessions he'd been going to and his work routine, he'd finally began to feel normal again. Sure, sometimes he had nightmares and sometimes he had bad days, but they were few and far between. It seemed like everything was finally behind him.

He looked at the address he would have to drive to. It was in the middle of nowhere, but he expected nothing less for a horse ranch. He didn't like the idea of going somewhere like that alone, so he decided to go to the older man's house first. He sighed heavily. It was in a slightly abandoned part of town, which wasn't exactly known for many good things. It would be just his luck, but he was determined to help. He hailed a taxi and began the somewhat long drive to a Mr. Wineslow's house.

The cab driver had given him a look when he'd told him where he was going. His eyes seemed to say "you're going there wearing that?" But Mike did his best to ignore it. Harvey wouldn't have sent him there if he didn't think he could handle it, and he was determined to handle it.

As they approached the house and Mike stepped out of the cab (which promptly sped away, despite Mike's asking it to wait), he wondered how someone who lived here could possibly afford to ride horses at such an expensive horse ranch. But then again, maybe the man had been a worker or something.

He knocked on the door to the house and waited a long time for a response. It had to have been abandoned. It was worn down to the point of barely having a functioning roof, not to mention that the door had bounced open each time he'd knocked. Mike frowned. He must have had the wrong address.

-Harvey-

Harvey sat in his office studying the case he'd given Mike to work on. It was important that they win this. This client was a big one and he was nothing short of determined. Harvey made his way to Mike's office only to find that he wasn't there. He shrugged. The kid was probably in the bathroom. He swore he had the smallest bladder known to man. He waited impatiently for five more minutes before entering Mike's office himself. He'd just look at what work Mike had done and talk to him about it later.

Mike's desk was completely clean, which was something that didn't often happen. Harvey found the stack of papers on the edge of Mike's desk and flipped through them. Annoyance flooded him as he quickly realized Mike hadn't done any work today. All of those papers had been from weeks ago, when he'd first assigned the kid the case. He stormed off, finding himself heading straight to Donna's office.

Donna looked up from her desk sensing that something was amiss. She waited for a moment or two, before brushing it off and getting back to work. It was then that Harvey entered her office.

"Hey Donna, have you seen Mike?" Harvey asked.

Donna made eye contact with Harvey and drummed her fingers on her desk.

"I saw him this morning, same as you," Donna responded, "also thanks for the gift card. I assume it was from you, but you and I both know I don't have time for that."

Harvey gave Donna a look.

"Well first of all, you're welcome. Second of all, didn't you get my note? Also, you can just go on Friday since you scheduled off. I just figured you might as well spend it doing whatever it is that women do at those sorts of places."

Donna looked amused, but also confused.

"I didn't schedule off, and really Harvey? 'Whatever it is women do at those sorts of places.' I know for a fact that you've been to one."

Harvey rolled his eyes and brushed her comment off. Going to a spa place with a client was different than going for fun.

"Well it says you scheduled off."

"I guess I'll have to go and fix that. Oh, and by the way Harvey, there was no note."

Harvey nodded. It must have been misplaced, but he had bigger things to worry about than a missing note. It looked like he was going to have to work on this case himself since Mike couldn't be bothered to come back from wherever he'd run off to. He walked back to his office borderline furious. Mike had to know how important this case was. Where was he?

-Mike-

Mike attempted to call Harvey only to find that he had no service. He was definitely calling that cab company to complain later on. It looked as though he was going to have to walk all the way back, or at least until he hit civilization.

As he started to walk back he began to put together how weird all of this was, like something out of a horror movie. Suddenly, he had a bad feeling. A car turned onto the street he was walking on. He was about to try and flag it down, but then he recognized it.

"This can't be happening, this cannot be happening, why am I so stupid?" Mike mumbled to himself as he ran in the opposite direction.

The car window rolled down as it pulled up next to Mike and kept pace.

"You don't really think that you can outrun a car, do you? I thought you were supposed to be some sort of genius."

Mike ignored him and kept running, assessing his options. He could probably hide in one of the warehouses. He winced. He should have recognized that this was a bad idea back when he first read the address.

"What, you aren't happy to see me? Come on Mike, all you're doing is wearing yourself out. Here, I'll get out of the car and we can talk."

Mike scoffed. No, he wasn't at all happy to see Matthew Gonzalez. In fact, he was terrified. There was no way in hell he was going to talk to him. He turned around and ran back to where he'd originally come from, aware that Matthew would have to do a three point turn on that tiny road, which would hopefully take a while. He intended to disappear long before he finished.


End file.
